Pies and Goddesses
by hexkitty01
Summary: An ancient power slumbering within Pinkie Pie is awakened when Maud is injured, driving Pinkie into a world-destroying rampage. Can Twilight and the rest of the ponies stop Pinkie before Equestria is no more?


Pies and Goddesses - Ferro - Page 24

PIES AND GODDESSES

By: Jeffrey Ferro

 _ **Part 1**_

Pinkie Pie bounced even higher as the Pie family rock farm came into view. "I'm so excited! It'll be great to see everypony again!"

"I'm looking forward to it too," Maud Pie intoned.

A few moments (and joyous bounces) later, Pinkie stopped not far from the family home. "There's Mom, and Dad, and Marble, and Limestone! Hey everypony!"

"Keep it down!" Limestone glared at Pinkie. "Something's happening with Holder's Boulder."

Maud walked closer to the enormous gray oval rock, which as always was perched on the edge of the farm's quarry. "What's going on?"

"We haven't the faintest notion," Igneous Rock Pie said. "But for three days now it's been making noises and moving."

"Moving?" Maud asked.

Pinkie bounded onto Holder's Boulder. "Maybe it just needs a friend." She tapped it with her hoof. "Hello, Boulder!"

"Get off Holder's Boulder!" Limestone shouted.

"Oh, it's OK, Miss Grumps-A-Lot. See?" Pinkie gave the giant rock another tap.

A crack formed under Pinkie's hoof and traveled down the side of the boulder.

"Get down from there, I said!"

Pinkie rolled her eyes and hopped down. "I didn't mean to crack it."

Maud stood next to the boulder and examined it closely. "I don't think that was you, Pinkie." She turned to the rest of the family, huddled together a short distance off. "I think we should move away from it."

A sharp noise made Pinkie turn back toward the boulder. The crack was growing in length and width. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry for breaking Holder's Boulder, everypony!"

Maud backed away from the giant rock, her gaze fixed on it. "I still don't think—"

Holder's Boulder split all the way down. A deep growl sounded from the darkness within it.

"Everypony inside!" Igneous Rock yelled. "Go on, now!"

Before anypony could move, the split sections of rock fell away. A dragon with rough-textured gray scales uncoiled its body and stretched its wings.

Surprised, Pinkie yelped.

Maud turned to flee. She had only run a few steps before the dragon's tail lashed out and caught her across the back. Pinned to the ground under the massive appendage, Maud gave a faint cry and lay still.

"Maud!" Pinkie raced to her stricken sister, heedless of the danger. Her father and Limestone yelled for her to stop, but the sight of Maud crushed under the dragon's tail was too much for her to bear.

The dragon stood on its back legs, its shadow covering the terrified family and the ranch house behind them. It snorted, spraying dust and smoke, then launched itself into the sky and flew toward the mountains.

"Maud!" Pinkie shook her sister with watering eyes. "Say something!" A deep chill ran through her for a moment, as if she'd swallowed an entire ice cream cone all at once.

Maud coughed. "I think I'm hurt."

Pinkie scooped her sister up in her hooves and hugged her to her chest. "Don't worry, Maud. I'll get help. The best help I can find!" Pinkie looked up at the dragon, getting smaller every moment as it soared away.

And felt a new emotion, one she'd never felt before. Rage.

Rainbow Dash flew in tight circles over Ponyville Square. "Where is Pinkie Pie? I can't believe _she'd_ be late for a party."

"Especially not the anniversary of Twilight coming to Ponyville," Fluttershy said.

"Maybe we should go check up on her," Applejack said. "Didn't she bring Maud Pie to the hospital yesterday?"

The three friends went to Sugarcube Corner. They were near the front door when the Cakes ran out of the bakery, burdened by several saddlebags, Mr. Cake pulling a small cart with the twins inside.

"Hey, where are you two going?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's a madhouse! A madhouse!" Mrs. Cake's eyes were wide and unfocused.

"Our store is haunted," Mr. Cake said. "Things are falling and breaking all over the place for no reason!"

Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash exchanged looks. "Is Pinkie home?" Applejack asked.

Mr. Cake put a foreleg over his wife's withers. "I think so. But she hasn't been out of her loft all day. Be careful in there."

The bakery was a shambles of broken display cases, scattered plates and cutlery, and ruined confections. A pie fork was embedded in the front door jamb. "Looks like a storm hit this place," Applejack said.

"I wonder what could have done all this," Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash hovered by the stairs to Pinkie's loft. "Come on, already! Let's see what's going on with Pinkie."

The ponies found Pinkie on her bed sobbing, her pink tone dull. "Pinkie Pie?" Applejack approached her. "What's wrong, sugarcube?"

"I-it's M-maud," Pinkie said, sobbing. "She's hurt and it's all my fault!" Pinkie bawled, tears gushing in fountains from her eyes.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy said. "What happened?"

"We went home, and I got up on Holder's Boulder, and it hatched into a dragon. It squished Maud under its tail!" Pinkie buried her face in her pillow.

"How badly is she hurt?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know!"

Applejack put her foreleg over Pinkie's heaving form. "Come on, now, that sure doesn't sound like your fault."

Pinkie reared up, tossing Applejack aside. "It was my fault! It _was_! Don't tell me it wasn't!"

A wave of red energy burst out of Pinkie, scattering everything in the bedroom, including the three visiting ponies.

Rainbow Dash was the first to recover. "Whoa! What was that?"

"Get out!" Pinkie's body color had deepened all the way to magenta. "Everypony just leave me alone!"

The three ponies hastened from Pinkie's presence and regrouped outside Sugarcube Corner. "I don't know what that was all about," Applejack said, "but something's definitely happening to Pinkie."

"I think we'd better go tell Twilight," Rainbow Dash said.

They galloped to the Castle of Friendship and let themselves in. As usual, Twilight was in the library, going through a stack of books. Applejack was the first to approach. "Twilight? We need your help with Pinkie Pie."

Twilight looked up from her reading. "Pinkie? What's wrong?"

Rainbow Dash darted in between Applejack and the Friendship Princess. "She's got some kind of magic and she's wrecking Sugarcube Corner!"

Starlight Glimmer trotted in. "What's going on?"

Applejack told Starlight and Twilight what had happened at Sugarcube Corner, as well as what Pinkie said had happened to Maud. "And when I tried to comfort her, some kind of red magic or something just went a-surgin' out of her. Wrecked her place and knocked us all around like loose apples in a cart."

"Red power?" Twilight asked with a frown. "But she's not a unicorn."

"We know that," Rainbow Dash said, "but it happened, and the Cakes have run off. The whole store's ruined."

"I've never heard of anything like that happening to an earth pony." Twilight looked over at Starlight. "Have you?"

Starlight shook her head. "Never."

"Hmm." Twilight frowned in thought. "I need to see this for myself." She nodded to Starlight. "Go get Spike and meet us there." Twilight turned back to the other three ponies. "Let's get Rarity and head over to Sugarcube Corner."

Twilight, with the others in tow, met Starlight just short of Sugarcube Corner. "No sign of any trouble." She turned to Applejack. "Are you sure of what you saw?"

Applejack nodded but Rainbow Dash spoke before she could say anything. "I know when I've been kicked back by a weird magic blast, Twilight."

"All right, let's see what's going on there."

Twilight stopped just inside the bakery. "Well, there's certainly a lot of damage."

"Maybe Pinkie went into one of her feeding frenzies," Starlight suggested. "There's a lot of temptation here for her."

"It's a dreadful mess," Rarity said, "but Pinkie isn't one to ruin her own home like this."

Twilight looked around. "Rarity's right. And all of the cakes and pies are still here. Even if they are all over the place."

Twilight led the others up the stairs to Pinkie's loft. Pinkie was still in her bed, buried under the covers, the pillow over her head. Twilight approached warily. "Pinkie? How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," came the muffled reply. "Maud's hurt because of me."

"I know it must be hard for you to have seen your sister get hurt, but it wasn't your fault."

Pinkie poked her head out and looked at Twilight with bloodshot eyes. "You don't know that. You weren't there."

"The girls told me that you said a dragon hatched out of Holder's Boulder."

Pinkie's head retreated back under the pillow. "Yeah. It looked like it was made of rocks."

Twilight turned to Spike, her faithful young dragon companion. "Spike? Have you ever heard of a dragon like that?"

Spike shook his head. "No, never. Some kind of rock dragon? That'd be a new one."

Twilight turned back to the bed. "Pinkie, come on out. We'll go see Maud and do what we can for her."

"No. It's my fault she's hurt."

"Pinkie, please—"

Pinkie erupted out of the bed and floated just above the crumpled covers. "Everypony just leave me alone!"

Twilight stepped back. Pinkie was darker pink than usual, and her mane and tail were waving, as if in a gentle breeze. _Just like Celestia and Luna_. "What's happening to you?"

" _Get out_!"

Pinkie erupted in a flash of red energy. The last thing Twilight saw before the world went dark was the red fire that engulfed Pinkie Pie's hooves, mane, and tail.

"Twilight? Twilight!"

Twilight shook her head and opened her eyes. They felt gritty and the daylight hurt them. Her whole body ached. Applejack was staring down at her. "What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Pinkie Pie just destroyed Sugarcube Corner!" Rainbow Dash flew from Applejack's side to the still-smoking crater where the bakery had been.

"How long was I out?"

"Just a minute or two, darling," Rarity said.

Twilight stood on wobbly legs and looked at the others. "Is anyone else hurt?"

Fluttershy stepped forward, limping on one foreleg. "Not too badly."

"Where's Pinkie?"

Rainbow Dash darted back over to Twilight. "She took off that way." She pointed with a hoof. "Toward the Everfree Forest."

A patch of dirt in front of Twilight swirled and the mismatched form of Discord rose up. "I don't know what you ponies are playing at, but if you're going to be sowing chaos, you could at least invite me." His eyes widened at the sight of Fluttershy. "Are you limping?"

Fluttershy smiled reassuringly. "It's nothing, really."

A doctor's white coat appeared on Discord's body, along with a stethoscope and a reflector on a headband. "How did this happen?"

"Something's wrong with Pinkie Pie," Twilight said, her headache receding. "She's developed some kind of wild magic and it's overwhelming her."

Discord turned back to Twilight, his eyes narrowed. "And Pinkie Pie used this 'wild magic' to hurt Fluttershy?" His voice deepened. "Where is she?"

"I don't think you should get involved in this," Twilight said.

"Oh, I'm already involved." Discord's ears pricked up and transformed into a pair of large record-player horns. "Ah, I think I've found her. Don't worry your pretty little purple head, Twilight, I'll handle this tiny problem."

"Don't hurt her!"

"Oh my dear, I wouldn't _dream_ of it." Discord snapped his fingers and was gone.

Discord reappeared not far from the Castle of the Two Sisters. He sniffed as he examined the ruin. "Ugh, simply awful. I'll have to remember to come by this way sometime and spruce that old place up."

Discord heard a thrumming noise and he turned to its source. Floating a few yards away was a magenta pony with crimson flames covering its hooves, mane, tail, and eyes. "Ah, Pinkie Pie, there you are. You've been a very naughty girl and you need a time out." Discord snapped his fingers and transformed the floating pony into stone, which dropped to the ground with a thump. "Much better. And now let's get you home, shall we?"

The stone pony glowed red-hot, then exploded in a burst of crimson fire that singed the ground nearby. "Pathetic draconequus." Pinkie Pie floated back into the air, her mane and tail waving. Her voice sounded like Pinkie's, but blended with a deeper, more resonant tone. "You really believe your miserable chaos powers are a match for the unbridled force of the Creatrix?"

Discord stumbled back. "What? Wait a minute. The Creatrix? Then you—"

"Perish, vile creature." Pinkie raised a hoof. It glowed red for a moment, then flashed.

Pinkie stared down at the smoking hole in the ground. "Thus ends the so-called Spirit of Disharmony."

 _ **Part 2**_

Twilight stopped short at the edge of the Everfree Forest. "Something's wrong. Do you all feel that?"

Behind her, the other ponies looked around. "It's awful quiet," Applejack finally said.

"I'll just fly on up for a look." Rainbow Dash zoomed up until she was a barely-visible blue speck. She dropped back down after a few seconds. "It looks like Pinkie blasted out the whole middle of the forest." She glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes wide. "It's pretty bad in there."

"Did you see Discord?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, but I was pretty high up. I'm sure he's just fine."

"Come on, girls," Twilight said. "We have to find Pinkie before she does any more damage."

The ponies hadn't traveled far before they came to a wide field of barren scorched earth. In the distance, trees had been flattened outward from some colossal blast. Twilight's jaw fell open in shock. "This is where the Tree of Harmony was!" She ran into the blast zone, but quickly took flight. "Ouch! The ground's still hot!"

"Are you saying that Pinkie has destroyed the Tree?" Rarity asked. "Why would she do such a thing?"

"And _how_ could she?" Applejack chimed in. "I thought nothing could hurt the Tree."

"I don't know." Twilight stared at the scorched ground, her eyes unfocused in thought. "But something's happening to her, and we've got to stop it."

Spitfire blew her whistle. "All right, let's run through the grandstand pass one more time!"

The Wonderbolt squad hovered around her, groaning. One of them looked toward the horizon. "Hey, what's that?"

Spitfire turned. A red ball glowed in the distance. "Whatever it is, it's coming in fast. We should go check it out."

The incoming object was closing in quickly enough that Spitfire was able to see details before they'd flown far. "What the—? That's Pinkie Pie. Or, it sort of looks like her. But how's she flying?"

"It looks like she's on fire!" Soarin said from behind her.

Spitfire flew farther ahead of her fellow Wonderbolts. "Hey, Pinkie Pie! Slow down!"

The burning Pinkie Pie did slow down. "Out of my way, fools." She launched herself like a meteor straight toward Cloudsdale. The Wonderbolts scattered, then re-formed behind her.

Spitfire stared at the burning pony for a moment. "Come on, everypony! We've got to catch her and find out what's going on."

The Wonderbolts strained their wings to catch Pinkie. Panting with exertion, they finally managed to surround her on all sides. "Pinkie!" Spitfire called. "Slow down! You're going to crash!"

"Your terrible cloud city will burn," Pinkie said over her shoulder, "and all of you with it!"

"Wonderbolts! Force her down!"

The Wonderbolts took up positions all around Pinkie except beneath her, with Spitfire above her. She dropped lower, trying to make Pinkie avoid colliding with her hooves by losing altitude, but the heat of Pinkie's energy burned her. Her uniform singed with an acrid odor. "OK, you want to play rough?" Spitfire arced up, then crashed down onto Pinkie with all her weight.

Pinkie didn't waver. Spitfire bounced off her, the feathers on her wings blackened and her uniform scorched by Pinkie's heat. A couple of the other Wonderbolts tried the same maneuver, with the same results.

Pinkie flew into the center of Cloudsdale, leaving a large hole in her wake. Spitfire turned to the Wonderbolts as they gathered behind her. "I don't know what that crazy filly is doing, but—"

The light came from behind Spitfire, but it was still bright enough to hurt her eyes. The other Wonderbolts, who had been facing toward it, howled in pain and rubbed at their eyes. Spitfire spun in midair.

Cloudsdale was disintegrating, its clouds flying apart. The Wonderbolt Academy, the Cloudeseum, the Rain Factory, all crumbled to vapor, then vanished.

Then the blast wave overtook Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts.

Princess Celestia led Princess Luna into the Canterlot Library of Magic. "I know it's in here somewhere."

"If you told me what we were looking for," Luna said, "I might be able to help you find it."

"Haven't you felt it? A feeling of dread, of ancient power? Unknown, yet somehow familiar? I think there's a book here in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing that might..."

"Go on."

Celestia shook her head. "I just feel like this one book might give us some answers." She searched for several minutes before she came to a display case that appeared to be empty. "I knew it was here." When she unlocked and opened the case, the illusion of emptiness was dispelled, revealing several large, well-worn books, all iron-bound with plain tan covers.

Luna stepped closer and peered at the tomes. "What are they?"

" 'The Foundations of Equestria,' as collected by Star Swirl."

"Why were they hidden like that?"

"Star Swirl and I had a long talk about these books once he'd finished writing them. He said that much of the knowledge contained within was so dangerous, that even the existence of these books should be hidden to prevent any overly ambitious students from delving into things they couldn't handle."

"You mean like Twilight?"

"I was less worried about her than some others, but yes." Celestia picked up the first volume, scanned its pages, and dropped it into a saddlebag. "Yes, this is the one."

Luna looked at the bag, then at her sister. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"No. Forgive me, sister, but I hope that my fears are unfounded, that my feeling is wrong."

As they left the library wing, a pegasus royal guard ran up. "Forgive the intrusion, Princesses, but there's something approaching from the north!"

"Something?" Celestia asked.

"We—we don't know what it is, Princess, but it's fast and seems to be burning."

"Thank you. My sister and I will attend to this personally."

Luna stared through a window. "Now I feel it. And you're right, it is familiar somehow."

Celestia looked through the same window, her feeling of dread growing. "Let's go. I believe we have a destiny to fulfill."

Celestia and Luna flew out of the library. They had not traveled far when they saw the burning red object, flying close to the ground. The sisters descended to the same altitude as the approaching power.

Luna squinted at it. "Is that Pinkie Pie?"

Celestia shook her head. "Not any more."

The flame-wreathed pony slowed and stopped a hundred feet from them. "I know you."

Celestia shuddered at the voice, lower and more menacing than Pinkie's normal tone, and at the raw power radiating from her. "Of course you do, Pinkie. What's happened to you?"

"Your kind managed to bring me down once. I shall not permit that to happen a second time."

Luna glanced over at Celestia. "What's she talking about?"

"I'm not sure." Celestia raised her voice as she addressed Pinkie. "What business do you have here?"

"Your kind have blighted this world. I'm here to remove that blight and return the world to its pure state."

Understanding flooded Celestia's mind. "We have to combine our magical powers and pour everything we have into one attack. It's the only hope we have against her."

Luna's eyes widened. "But—but that much power all at once! The damage will be catastrophic!"

"We must, to avert a far worse calamity."

Luna bowed her head. "If you think it best."

The sisters leaned toward each other and touched the tips of their horns together. "On my mark," Celestia said.

Ahead of them, Pinkie hovered motionless. And grinned.

"Now!"

Celestia's and Luna's horns burned with power as their magical energies launched forth in a thundering swirled beam that blasted a trench through the dirt twenty feet below. The beam struck the floating Pinkie full on, with an explosion that blasted apart trees hundreds of feet distant and cratered the ground. The sisters kept the beam up as long as they could, then sank to the ground exhausted. Where Pinkie had floated moments before there was only a titanic billowing cloud of steam and smoke.

Luna panted and wiped her brow. "Did it work?"

Celestia ignored her wobbly legs and gazed at the cloud. "I hope—wait, I still feel her power!"

Red energy surged from within the cloud, dissipating it in an instant. Celestia's eyes grew wide as she beheld the floating form of Pinkie Pie, unscathed and still grinning. "Your kind has fallen far indeed if that pitiful display was the extent of your powers. I think I'll let you see the end of your disgusting city before I obliterate you."

A red globe of raw power formed around Pinkie. From it surged a blast of energy that struck Canterlot Mountain. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the mountain flew apart. Celestia watched in horror as Canterlot Castle broke off from the side of the disintegrating mountain, crumbling as it fell. Celestia thought she heard the distant screams of its ponies, but it could have been a trick of her mind, given the distance and the speed with which the disaster struck. The red blast consumed the castle before it hit the ground. The blast wave washed over the princess sisters and bowled them over. A few moments later, they were knocked back the other way as the air rushed back toward Canterlot, raising a mushroom-shaped pillar of smoke and debris over the desolation that moments before had been the greatest city in Equestria.

Pinkie, still wreathed in her red globe of power, turned to the sisters. "And now for the two of you."

The ponies paced as Twilight pulled book after book from her library shelves. "No... not this one... nothing. Nothing!"

"I hate to be the seed in your teeth," Applejack said, "but maybe we should go see Princess Celestia and Luna."

"Yes, a wonderful idea," Rarity added. "Surely they'll know what's happened to poor Pinkie."

"And how we can put a stop to it," Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight ran a foreleg over her tousled mane. "You're right, girls. Let's—wait. Did you feel that?"

The ponies all exchanged glances. "Feel what?" Fluttershy asked.

Twilight stared through a window. "That rumbling, like an earthquake. And there's smoke coming from Canterlot Mountain."

Rainbow Dash hovered by the front door. "Maybe Pinkie's there. Let's go, already!"

Applejack and Rarity galloped along the road to Canterlot, with Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash flying above them, trying to see ahead. "There's so much smoke and dust," Twilight said. "I sure hope... wait, what's that down there?" She zoomed down ahead of the group, with the two pegasi in her wake.

Celestia dragged herself along the side of the road, moaning in pain. Her mane and tail no longer wafted like gossamer. They appeared to be ordinary pony hair, matted tangles of mud and leaves covering most of the lavender and sky-blue.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight approached her stricken mentor, horrified. "What happened?"

Celestia reached into a saddlebag, removed a large book with her mouth, and dropped it in front of herself. "Take this. It will explain—" Celestia coughed up some blood. "You have to read this." The words came out slowly, each one making Celestia wince.

Then Twilight saw that Celestia's alicorn wings were gone. Not burned or cut away, but vanished, as if they'd never been. Even her sun symbol cutie mark had disappeared, leaving Celestia a blank-flank.

Twilight picked up the book with her magic. It was heavier than she'd expected. "Princess Celestia, did... did Pinkie—"

"Pinkie's... not Pinkie any more. She's... she's become..." Celestia coughed more blood onto the dirt and lay still.

"Princess? _Princess?_ "

Applejack stepped forward and tenderly nosed Celestia's neck. Then she stepped back and took off her hat. "I'm sorry, sugarcube. She's—"

"Don't you say it!" Twilight shrieked at her friend. "Celestia can't die! She just can't!"

Applejack lowered her head and looked away.

The other ponies gathered around the corpse of Celestia, the most powerful alicorn they knew, and stared in horror. Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence. "Pinkie Pie did this?"

Through the tears filling her eyes, Twilight stared at the book that Celestia had given her life to deliver. "Come on, girls, back to my library."

"What about Canterlot?" Rarity asked. "If it's in trouble, we should go and see if we can help."

Twilight's tears finally spilled over. "We can't help anyone there now. We've got a bigger fight on our hands."

The other ponies paced once more as Twilight read through Celestia's book. She skimmed through the first few chapters, despite her excitement at seeing even more of Star Swirl the Bearded's work, until she came to a chapter on ancient legends. "It says here that in the beginning, a pony goddess created the world and everything in it. But that goddess' power frightened the lesser gods and goddesses, so they teamed up to try to destroy her. In the end, only two lesser goddesses were left alive, and all they managed to do was to split the goddess into two halves: a good, creative half, and an evil, destructive half, which they imprisoned in mortal ponies for safe-keeping. Then they gave up most of their remaining power to provide the magic that unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies use, in order for them to survive and maintain the natural order of the world, since they could no longer do it themselves." Twilight looked up from the book. "Those two goddesses became the very first alicorns, and Celestia and Luna are... were... their descendants."

Applejack stopped pacing and stared. "So what you're saying is, Pinkie's got the evil half of that power?"

Twilight shook her head. "No. If I'm reading this Old Ponish correctly, it's worse than that. Earth ponies were selected to host the two halves of this power because they had the least magic, and wouldn't be able to use it recklessly. I think Pinkie had half of that power already, and when the other half got into her somehow, it overwhelmed her and she went crazy."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs as she hovered. "You think Pinkie Pie, _our_ Pinkie Pie, had half of a goddess inside her?"

"Think about it. Her speed, her Pinkie Sense, all of those weird abilities we've all seen her use, they all had to come from somewhere. It looks like she was tapping into the goddess-power without even realizing it."

"Then where'd the other half of the power come from?"

Rarity's eyes widened. "Maud Pie."

Twilight frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when we first met Maud? She flew through the air and smashed that huge rock to smithereens when it threatened Pinkie. Then when the two Pie sisters and I went to Manehattan, Maud used what she called 'Maud Sense' to find the pony who'd tricked Pinkie out of her party cannon."

"And Pinkie did say that Maud got hurt when that rock dragon hatched out of Holder's Boulder," Spike said. "Maybe that released Maud's power and it went into Pinkie."

"And this story claims that the power was first placed into a pair of sisters, so that they could watch over each other." Twilight closed the book. "We've got to find Pinkie and stop her."

"How?" Applejack asked. "If she's powerful enough to—well, that Luna and Celestia couldn't stop her..." She lowered her head and looked away again, her face pinched.

"I've got an idea. But it'll take all of us to pull it off."

 _ **Part 3**_

Twilight returned from her bedroom with a small golden chest. She placed it on a table and opened it, revealing the six jewelry pieces inside.

Starlight peered over Twilight's shoulder. "The Elements of Harmony? Are things really that bad?"

"Worse than anything you can imagine. Celestia is dead, and we have to assume Luna is as well, along with Canterlot and everypony in it."

Starlight gawped at her. "Celestia and Luna, dead? That can't be. How can you be so sure?"

Twilight stared at the Elements and forced herself not to cry. "Because we watched Celestia die at my hooves."

Starlight's jawed dropped, but she gathered herself quickly. "I don't understand. How? Why?"

"All we know is from that book." Twilight nodded to Celestia's book on its reading stand. "It's a collection of ancient lore that I've never seen before, and which I assume Celestia kept hidden even from me. The short version is, Pinkie Pie's become some ancient goddess and she's destroying everything. My hope is that we can stop her with these." Twilight levitated each element to its user. Except for one, which she held up in front of the group.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a problem," Rainbow Dash said. "Pinkie was the Element of Laughter, and she's the one we gotta use these on."

"Surely there must be someone else we can deputize for this," Rarity said.

"My first thought was Discord." Twilight settled her tiara with its sparkling deep pink gem onto her brow. "But we haven't seen him since he went after Pinkie on his own, so we have to assume the worst."

"Oh no," Fluttershy said. "Not poor Discord."

"Well, who else _can_ we get?" Applejack asked.

Twilight looked around the group, a hard smile on her face. "Someone we all know. But first I have to find him."

Cheese Sandwich stared at the smoking wasteland that was once the city of Fillydelphia. "What do you think, Boneless Two?"

The rubber chicken toy on his back flopped to one side.

"I hear ya. I can't imagine what might have happened here, but we've got to tell someone."

Twilight Sparkle appeared next to him with a pop and a flash of reddish light. She stared at the devastated city for only a moment. "Cheese Sandwich, we need your help."

"After what I've seen here, I don't know how much party I can deliver."

"Don't worry, I'm not here for a party."

Twilight teleported Cheese Sandwich back to the Castle of Friendship. He remembered most of the half-dozen other ponies that were in the Castle from his prior sojourn to Ponyville. But the one pony he'd expected to see wasn't around. "So where's that zany Pinkie Pie at? I could use a shoulder to laugh on."

Twilight walked toward a golden chest on a table. "Unfortunately, Pinkie seems to be our problem." Twilight lifted a necklace with a single large blue gem from inside the chest. "We have a way to stop her from causing any more damage, but we need your help."

Cheese Sandwich stepped back and raised a hoof. "Hold on a minute. I'm flattered, but I'm not a fighter like all of you."

Fluttershy stepped closer. "You mean, like me?"

"You don't fool me. Maybe you're not the boldest balloon in the bunch, but you've helped save all of Equestria who knows how many times over. I can't do that stuff. I just throw parties."

"But ponies change," said a lavender-pink pony Cheese Sandwich didn't know. "I used to be, well, not the nicest pony around, until Twilight and her friends helped me see a better path than the one I was on."

"Please, Cheese." Twilight grinned at her rhyme, but her eyes were filled with worry.

Cheese Sandwich swallowed a lump. "I'll help any way I can." He turned to Boneless Two and nudged it with his nose. "More importantly, Boneless says he's in too. But I don't know what kind of help we'll be."

Twilight placed the necklace around Cheese Sandwich's neck. "This is called the Element of Laughter, one of the six Elements of Harmony. When they're combined, they form the most powerful magical force known. Pinkie Pie used to be that Element, but she's been taken over by an ancient power and... well, you've seen the results."

"Fillydelphia?"

"That's just one example," Twilight said.

Cheese Sandwich lifted the necklace's gem with a hoof and gazed at it for a moment, then gave Twilight a hard-eyed smile. "If you're all certain that this is the way to go, then let's go rein in a party-pooper."

Twilight wobbled on her legs and panted. "All right. We're here."

"How do you feel, darling?" Rarity asked.

"It's still hard to teleport all of you this far. But I'm glad I've been practicing."

The ponies looked around. At first it appeared as if Pinkie had already been there. The ground was bare except for sharp rocks, patches of wicked-looking thorny vines, and blowing dust. Not far away stood the changeling hive. "My scrying spell showed me that Pinkie was moving this way. It's hard to miss a magical power as big as hers has become. She should be here any moment. Rainbow Dash, go ahead to the hive and warn Thorax and the others."

"On it. Good thing this new Pinkie is moving around like such a slow-poke."

"I can't say for sure why she's taking her time like this," Twilight said, "but I'm glad she is."

Rainbow Dash nodded and sped toward the hive.

Cheese Sandwich looked around with obvious nervousness. "I wish we'd practiced doing whatever this spell of yours is, so I knew it'd work."

Twilight managed a wan smile. "I understand how you feel. I'm a little nervous too. But I've never heard of the Elements being invoked for a practice run, and we didn't have time for one anyway."

"No time to wonder about that now, y'all." Applejack pointed to a bright red object in the distance. "Here she comes."

Twilight looked back at the hive. "We need to try and stall her until Rainbow Dash gets back. Cheese Sandwich, are you ready for this?"

"Not really." He puffed out his chest and grinned. "But I've got streamers, ice cream, and party games in my thoughts, and my party smile on my face. If this gem works like you say it does, then I've got a surprise for Pinkie, and she won't even have to unwrap it."

Rainbow Dash rejoined the group, panting with exertion. "Whew. If I'd flown like that on Best Young Flyer Day, I'd be in charge of the Wonderbolts right now!"

"Are the changelings evacuating?" Twilight asked. "We don't have much time."

"As fast as they can. They're heading into some deep caves they use for emergencies."

Twilight turned back to the approaching threat. "All right, everypony. Time to put a stop to this."

Pinkie slowed as she approached the group. She was an even darker shade of pink than Twilight remembered from Sugar Cube Corner. Her eyes, mane, tail, and hooves were wreathed in crimson flames, and jets of flame the same color shot out of her flanks where her cutie marks had been. "Well, well. Are you six here to stop my righteous purge?" Her voice was different, too, as if two other, deeper voices spoke through her mouth.

" 'Righteous purge'?" Twilight asked. "You're destroying everything in Equestria!"

Pinkie smiled at her. "I can tell that you have knowledge of me, little pony. My vision for this world was a utopia, serene and wonderful. Then the lesser ones defied me and tore me asunder, and those who survived gave unto you their powers." Her smile faded and she shook her head. "I will return this world to its former purity. I will cleanse my world of your upstart mortal forms and unmake all of your horrid mortal works."

"Then you know we can't allow that." Twilight concentrated for a moment to activate her Element. Torrents of raw power ran from the other five Elements to her, bathing her in a rainbow light. The light lifted all of the ponies into the air in formation, with Twilight closest to Pinkie. The power of the Elements built and surged around them, then blasted toward Pinkie. It coursed around her, writhing like multicolored snakes, hiding the goddess-Pinkie from sight. For a moment, Twilight felt hope.

Then the Elements' power dissipated. The ponies floated back to the ground, their gems no longer glowing. Twilight stared at Pinkie in horror. "But... I don't understand! How could the Elements not work?"

Pinkie frowned and shook her head. "I'm sure your little light show has been adequate for the common threats you might have had to face from time to time. But my reunited power is a far greater matter than you can imagine. I suppose I'll have to relieve you of those trinkets before you cause any more trouble with them." Pinkie raised her hoof. All of the Elements flew from their owners and hovered in front of Pinkie for a second. Then the gems shattered, and their mountings flowed like wax as they melted. Twilight watched a single shard of her Element twinkle as it fell through the air in front of her, then it rolled, dull and dead, on the ground. Dimly, she heard gasps and screams from the other ponies behind her.

Twilight took two steps back. "That's impossible. How can anyone do that?"

Pinkie floated closer, until she was close enough that Twilight could've struck her. "That power was impressive, I'll admit. But like all things, it's my creation, and therefore subject to my will. Now, if you have no further ways of wasting my time, I have some shape-shifting abominations to destroy."

Pinkie shot up into the sky. A globe of red energy surrounded her, then a beam of red power shot from the globe and struck the changeling hive. The ponies were scattered like leaves in a storm as the hive exploded, leaving a smoking crater behind.

Pinkie dropped back to the ground in front of Twilight. "And now on to the next wretched thing. Don't worry, my little ponies, I'll see all of you again, very soon."

Twilight huddled on the ground, sobbing. She didn't see which way Pinkie flew, and in her current misery, she couldn't have cared less.

It had taken every bit of the ponies' persuasion to get Twilight on her feet again. She teleported them all back to her library, then collapsed on the floor. "Nothing we do works," she muttered between sobs. "We're up against a power beyond imagining. The very source of all magic, the world itself."

Starlight approached gingerly. "I guess the Elements didn't work?"

Applejack gave her a warning look and shook her head.

Rarity stared at the floor, her gaze unfocused. "Not only did they not work, but Pinkie destroyed them."

"I guess I wasn't the right pony to make your magic work after all," Cheese Sandwich said.

"It wasn't your fault," Applejack said. "The Elements worked right, they just couldn't beat Pinkie with all of her new power."

"At least you're all still here," Spike said. "The Elements must have protected you from Pinkie a little, right?"

"Hey, that's a darn good question," Applejack said. "Why did she let us all go? And for that matter, why didn't we get killed off first?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Think about it. We were all there when this power came out of Pinkie in the first place. And we all survived that, and most of Ponyville's still standing."

The ponies looked around and murmured to each other, but no one had an answer.

No one except Twilight. She stood up and wiped her tears away. "She's toying with us."

"Why would she be so cruel to us?" Fluttershy asked. "We're her friends."

"I don't think that matters any more. Maybe she wants an audience. Maybe she wants worshipers. Or maybe she just can't be bothered with a hoofful of ponies when she's blasting whole cities to smithereens." Twilight walked over to the table where Celestia's book still rested. "I'm going to read through this book some more, page by page. There's got to be something that can help us. This can't be the end of Equestria."

"It's a shame you can't just send her back in time," Starlight said.

"As dangerous as time travel is," Twilight said, "I'd even consider that if I thought it would work. But I'd have to travel back to the very beginning of time, or at least to the point where the lesser gods and goddesses revolted against her and convince them not to do it." She paused as inspiration hit. "But maybe..." She levitated a series of books from her shelves and laid them out on another table. The third one she flipped through had the answer she sought. "Yes, here it is!"

Starlight peered over Twilight's shoulder, but Twilight had already closed all the books. "What did you find?"

Twilight grabbed Starlight's face with both hooves and kissed her forehead. "Starlight, you're a genius!" Twilight released her and paced. "Star Swirl the Bearded's time spell might be the answer! With a little alteration, I think I can send someone into the future with it!"

"You think it'll work on a goddess?"

"Maybe. If she doesn't know it's coming. If I can surprise her. Right now it's the best thing I can come up with."

Starlight nodded. "If I can do anything to help, just let me know."

"That goes for all of us," Applejack said.

"No." Twilight looked around at everyone in the room. "I need all of you to go around and gather anyone who might have survived Pinkie's destruction and bring them here." She stared at Starlight. "If this doesn't work, I'll need you to find some way of protecting anypony that's left, even if you have to take them to a different reality to do it."

"A different reality? Like the one where Canterlot is a school?"

"I don't care. Whatever you have to do. Because if this plan fails, I don't think I'll be here to help you anymore."

Twilight looked back over her shoulder at the gleaming sprawl of Las Pegasus, then returned her attention to her dragon. "Are you OK, Spike?"

Spike rubbed his head. "I guess so. Being teleported such a long way is kinda weird, you know?"

Twilight sighed. "Hopefully, you'll have a chance to get used to it."

"Aw, come on, Twilight. This'll work. It's got to work."

"I thought that about the Elements of Harmony too, and look how that turned out." Twilight gazed at the near-cloudless sky. With Celestia and Luna both gone, the sun hadn't moved.

"The Twilight I know doesn't give up."

"As long as I have you here to hold the book and crystal for me."

Spike held up the old spellbook and a long green shard of crystal.

Twilight smiled and nodded. Then a familiar feeling of dread came over her. "I can feel her approaching. Get ready."

Spike opened the book to a marked page and propped it against his side. Then he held the crystal up over his head with both hands.

As before, when Pinkie approached Twilight, she slowed and then stopped, hovering a dozen feet off the ground. "You again. Why must you interrupt my works?"

"I'm here to give you one last chance to stop what you're doing and release my friend."

Pinkie's brows knitted. "Release your friend? I hold no prisoners, little pony, for I take none."

Twilight stamped her hoof. "Stop destroying Equestria!"

"Destroying Equestria? What I do is both noble and needed. When the ancestors of your two alicorn princesses gave up their divinity to provide mortals with magic, they ruined my pure world. It is you who stand on the side of evil, little one. Your magic is an affront to my eyes. I am not destroying this world, I'm saving it."

"Then I will stop you, here and now."

Pinkie assumed a sitting position in mid-air. "I will humor you, Twilight Sparkle, but I will also warn you. My patience for your insolence is growing thin indeed."

Twilight read the spell aloud. Her voice grew in volume and deepened in timbre, and she glowed with white light.

Pinkie frowned for a moment and cocked her head to one side. That questioning posture lasted only a second or two before she regarded Twilight with a calm and knowing smile.

At the crescendo of the spell's reading, Twilight's magic shot from her horn into the crystal, which turned the bolt green and magnified its intensity tenfold. The green bolt lashed at Pinkie. After a few seconds, the crystal shattered. Spike winced, lowered his hands, and shook them.

Pinkie stood back up and brushed an imaginary piece of dirt from one foreleg. "How fascinating. You tried to project me bodily through time. I'm almost impressed. But I'm not a mortal being, little pony. I am eternal. I transcend time. Therefore, your spell had no power over me. It never could have."

Twilight lowered her head. "Then I've lost."

Pinkie floated closer. "No. You cannot lose a fight you never had a chance to win, for it was never a fight at all. But you are clever, and your tricks increase the weight of your guilt. Perhaps I should..." She put a hoof to her chin for a moment and looked thoughtful. "No, I must return this world to its former purity. Even one of your kind is a stain I cannot permit." Glaring at Twilight, she floated up another dozen or so feet. The red power-sphere surrounded her.

Twilight stared at the goddess in horror. She wanted to flee, to teleport, to do anything to protect herself, but fear froze her to the spot. Fear, and the knowledge that nothing she did would do more than delay the inevitable.

Spike picked up the book and tugged on Twilight's wing. "Come on. Let's get out of here!"

Even at this distance, Twilight could feel the heat of Pinkie's power. "Why bother? It's over. She's won and I've failed. I can't help anyone any more."

Spike ran in front of her, faced Pinkie, and raised the book up like a shield. "Pinkie Pie, please! Don't do this! Twilight's your dearest friend in the world. Don't you remember?"

The heat subsided as the power-sphere dissipated. Pinkie descended, no more than a few feet from Spike, and scrutinized him. "Friend?"

For an instant, her flames diminished. Her eyes cleared and Twilight thought she saw good old Pinkie Pie staring at Spike.

Then the fires shrouded the goddess' eyes again, more intense than before. "Bah. I've wasted enough time here. I can collect the two of you at any time. Right now, that cauldron of noise and chaos behind you is in need of my singular attention."

Pinkie rose and sped away toward Las Pegasus. Twilight lingered, hoping against hope that that tiny piece of Pinkie Pie would stop the goddess and save the city. A flash, followed by a roar of heat and force that, even at this distance, bowled her and Spike over, told her otherwise.

 _ **Part 4**_

Twilight teleported herself, Spike, and Cheese Sandwich back to her library. The other ponies were there, along with a few other beings that she knew: Thorax, Gilda, Prince Rutherford, Ember, Zecora, Queen Novo, a few ponies from Ponyville. All were haggard and wore downcast expressions.

Starlight, coated with dust, her mane and tail unkempt, was the first to approach her. "I hope you have good news for us." She looked at Twilight's face. "I guess not."

"The time spell didn't work." Twilight stamped her hoof in anger. "I should've known it! The Creatrix told me that she was eternal, that a time spell wouldn't have worked on her. I should've guessed that."

Starlight smiled. "At least you tried. And it looks like you survived." She looked away, her ears back. "That's more than most of Equestria can say. And don't even talk to Applejack. She hasn't stopped crying since she found... well, what's left of Sweet Apple Acres."

"I just can't believe Pinkie would do all this," Spike said. "I mean, for a moment she seemed to remember her and Twilight's friendship."

"What about Pinkie's family?" Twilight asked Starlight.

"No sign of them, except for Maud. Rainbow Dash found her in her cave. Maybe the rest of them went somewhere for shelter. A lot of Ponyville's residents did that. Went to places far away from here, where they thought they'd be safe. As far as we can tell, the survivors that we've gathered here are all that's left in all of Equestria."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "This is it? This is all of them?"

"Between my teleportation spell and Rainbow Dash's fast flying we've covered all of known Equestria. Manehattan's been leveled to the ground. The Crystal Empire is a frozen crater. We couldn't even _find_ Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash has exhausted herself bringing us back a stream of bad news."

"That monster." Queen Novo stared at the floor with puffy, bloodshot eyes. "She boiled the ocean. I'll never forget the screams as long as I live."

Starlight grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. "It gets worse. You need to see this." Starlight led Twilight to the throne room. The magical map of Equestria, which normally only appeared when there was a friendship problem to solve, covered the circular table with its glow.

Twilight stared at it in shock. The map looked like a giant piece of burned toast. Except for the single bright speck of Ponyville, every part of it showed scorched ruins. "She's done it. She's destroyed the world," she said in a breathless voice.

"Twilight, what are we going to do?"

Maud walked into the throne room, her midsection wrapped in bandages over her blue-gray smock. Twilight ran over to her. "Maud! I'm so glad to see you!"

Maud, as usual, gave no reaction.

"We've got a big problem with Pinkie," Twilight said.

"I've heard. I guess she got the other half of the power."

Twilight took a step back. "Wait, you knew about that?"

"I've had suspicions. Pinkie's strange abilities, and mine, had to come from somewhere."

"Do you have any idea how we can stop her? I've tried a time spell, the Elements of Harmony, everything."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"She's not the same Pinkie she was. She doesn't seem interested in just talking it out."

Maud closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. I mean, have you tried talking to Pinkie?"

Twilight blinked in confusion. "I don't see how we can."

"She's still in there. You have to get inside her head and find her."

Spike snapped his fingers. "That sort of makes sense. She did stop attacking us when I reminded her about friendship."

Twilight thought for a moment. "And she did look almost like Pinkie for a second there. But getting inside of her head... I don't know."

Maud put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Pinkie's a lot tougher than she lets on. She's in there, somewhere."

"Then it's worth a shot. There's got to be something in one of my magic books."

Maud blinked slowly. "I read Celestia's book. Look in there."

Twilight was too glad to have another possibility for hope to ask how Maud found the book, or how she read the hoof-written Old Ponish. She dashed off to read the book that might just save them all.

Twilight gathered the pitiful remnants of Equestria's populations in her throne room. The map was still there, a frozen image of their blighted world, mocking her. Twilight wished she could get rid of it. "Everypony, I have an idea. But it's going to take all of us to do it, and it will take every ounce of magic I can muster."

Applejack, still sniffling, stared at her with bloodshot eyes. "When you say all of your magic—"

"It will take a lot out of me. But as you can see from the map, Ponyville's the only place the Creatrix hasn't destroyed yet. So it doesn't really matter."

Ember stepped forward. "What's your plan, then? I owe that monster for the destruction of my dragons and our lair."

"There's a spell in Celestia's book. I wouldn't have found it without Maud's help." She nodded at Maud, who stood in the back of the room, her expression blank. "It wasn't complete, but it told of how the gods and goddesses of old were able to split the Creatrix by entering her mind. I remembered a similar spell from one of my old books, and putting the two together, I might be able to project all of us into Pinkie's mind."

"Forgive me, darling," Rarity chimed in, "but what good will that do?"

"Pinkie's still in there. We saw her for just a second when the time spell failed, thanks to Spike." She smiled at Spike, who blushed and rubbed his head. "If we can get to her, remind her who we are, what we mean to her, there's a chance we can get her to take control of herself."

"And then what?" Thorax asked.

"Maud knows Pinkie better than any of us. She believes Pinkie can stop the goddess. And I believe it too."

"Pink pony tough, tough like yak," Prince Rutherford said. "Plan sounds good to yak."

"I know I'm asking a lot of all of you," Twilight continued. "I'm asking you to have faith in me, and more importantly, in Pinkie Pie, the Pinkie Pie we all know and love so much. I won't lie to you. This is a desperate plan, but it's the only one we have left. Nothing else we've tried has even scratched her. I believe in this. Maud believes in this. And the more of you that believe in this, the more of you I can send into her mind, the more likely your belief and mine will be justified."

The throne room was silent. Of all the beings gathered, Fluttershy was the first to step forward. She walked up and sat in her throne at the map table. "I believe in you, Twilight."

Prince Rutherford stepped forward. "Yak believes. Pink pony helped yaks. Now yak helps pink pony."

One by one, they all stepped forward and offered their support. Twilight teared up at the outpouring of faith and love she felt as these few and battered survivors declared their trust in her, and in Pinkie. Even Applejack wiped away her last tears and took her seat at the table with a grin. "I guess we've got to try. For Pinkie."

"For Pinkie!" The yell echoed off the chamber walls.

Twilight took no chances. As with the time spell, she had Spike bring Celestia's book along when she led the survivors to the edge of Ponyville. She sensed Pinkie's coming, at a slower rate than before, and she felt the change in the angry deity's energy. She couldn't say why, but it felt like triumph. She shook off the feeling and concentrated on her last-minute study of the spell she needed. _This has to be perfect._ The spell was going to be the most demanding one she'd ever attempted, both in intricacy and in sheer magical power required. As her magic built up, her horn heated.

 _This is the end. I won't survive this._ "Everypony get ready. She's coming."

Pinkie flew in at low altitude, as she always did, halting before the group. "And the last of you have brought yourselves together. That is very considerate."

Twilight nodded to Spike, who put Celestia's book back into the dead princess' saddlebag. "We are here together, Creatrix," Twilight said. "And we have a request."

Pinkie cocked her head. "Oh? Please don't beg me to spare your lives. I've already told you why that cannot be permitted."

"Not that. We just want to speak to our friend."

Pinkie scowled. But she also backed away, just a little bit. "This again? This vessel is mine now. There is no other."

Maud stepped forward. "Pinkamena Diane Pie."

Pinkie backed a little farther away. "What did you say?" she snarled. The red globe of power came up around her.

"You know me." Despite the heat pouring from the goddess' energy, Maud stepped closer to her. "I want to talk to my sister."

"Everypony, gather close around me," Twilight whispered to the group. "We'll have one shot at this."

Pinkie floated closer to Maud. Her power-globe sputtered and faded. "Maud?" Her flames dwindled, and just like at Las Pegasus, the flames in her eyes cleared. Her voice was almost Pinkie's normal high-pitched tone. "Maud? Is that you?"

Twilight saw her chance. She recited the spell. As she did, a surge of pink energy flowed over the group of Equestria survivors. With a tremendous effort, she refocused the energy into a beam and launched it at the hesitating goddess. Twilight's legs wobbled, and sweat poured off her. Her burning horn seared her head, and her mind whirled.

Twilight woke up in darkness. Her whole body hurt. Her head pounded like a dozen ponies were stamping on it. She was lying on a cold, hard surface, but she couldn't see what it was. Or where it was.

"Twilight?" Starlight leaned down toward her face. "Are you OK?"

Twilight staggered to her hooves and looked around. The effort made her head throb even worse, but the light from Starlight's horn was just enough for her to make out the survivors clustered around her, including Maud. "Did it work?"

Starlight looked around. "We don't know. Maybe. I mean, I don't think we're dead." Her eyes widened. "Your horn!"

Twilight put a hoof to her still-hot horn; it was twisted and melted, like a used candle. "That spell took all of my magic."

"What do you mean, all of your magic?"

Twilight shook her head. Starlight shut her eyes and turned away.

Twilight looked around the vast dark area, but all she saw was the small group of Equestria survivors clustered nearby. She took a tentative step forward, as much to test the solidity of the "ground" as to see if her head could handle the motion. Both seemed to be safe bets. "This must be the inside of Pinkie's mind."

"I expected a lot more, you know, balloons and cakes and stuff," Rainbow Dash said.

"That's the part of this place we need to find. Come on."

"Which way?" Starlight asked.

"I don't know, but if we stick together, we should be all right."

"How long are we going to be in here?" Thorax asked.

"I don't know that either. But the less we worry about that kind of thing, the better off we'll be."

Twilight had no way to tell how long she led the group forward. No light broke the darkness, and they came across no obstacles. Even Rainbow Dash walked, as if she didn't dare fly in the strange space. Twilight's pains didn't get worse, or better. _Maybe_ we're _beyond time now, too._ Twilight tried not to focus on her assorted agonies, or her amazement that she'd really pulled off the complex spell the first time she'd tried it. But she couldn't shake the feeling that all she'd really managed to do was trap them all in the prison of Pinkie's mind forever.

"Hey!" Applejack pointed ahead. "Look yonder!"

Twilight shook herself out of her reverie. Something was different ahead of them. It took Twilight a moment to realize it was a faint glow. The featureless darkness ruined her sense of perspective, so she couldn't tell distance or intensity. "Come on, everypony!"

She tried to gallop, then slowed to a trot. Both were too much for her overtaxed body. And neither brought the glow visibly closer. So she walked, and everyone else matched her pace.

The pale glow came from an arched passageway, even though the darkness hid the wall around it. The meager light was stronger to the left, and Twilight could finally make out that the glow was pink. Before long, she heard sobbing.

"That's Pinkie!"

Twilight's pain couldn't stop her now. She galloped for all she was worth and was soon rewarded with a second arched passageway that opened into a small, featureless room. Pinkie Pie sat in the middle of the room, bathed in pink light, tears rolling from her shut eyes, her mane and tail deflated from their usual bobbing curls.

Twilight ran to her, followed by the rest. "Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie hopped up and skittered back, eyes wide. "Twilight? Are you real?"

"I'm so glad we found you!"

The others crowded around Pinkie. A few asked if she was injured. Others were just grateful that they'd found her. Only Maud stood back. Pinkie sniffed and looked away when she saw her.

Maud came up to her then. "Pinkie. I'm so glad you're safe."

Pinkie wouldn't look at her beloved older sister. "You got hurt because of me."

"No. Holder's Boulder would've hatched no matter what."

"But it's my fault you were there! It's my fault you got clobbered by that dragon!"

"Dragon?" Ember looked from one sister to the other. "What's this about a dragon?"

"If we get out of here," Twilight said, "I'll gladly tell you all about it."

"Pinkie," Maud said, "it was an accident. You didn't mean for me to be hurt. I forgive you."

Pinkie looked at Maud, her eyes glistening with tears. "You... you mean it?"

Maud hugged her close. "I mean it. Five-ever." She released Pinkie. "That's even longer than forever. Remember?"

Pinkie's lips trembled. Then she hopped up and hugged Maud so tightly that Twilight wondered if Maud's injuries could bear it. Pinkie's mane and tail re-inflated to their usual style. "I'm so glad you're not mad at me! I'd never, ever, _ever_ do anything to hurt you."

Maud shook Pinkie off and stepped back. "We need you to do something."

Pinkie nodded rapidly. "Of course. Anything!"

"We need you to take control of your body."

Pinkie's grin faltered. "I've tried. But I just can't do it."

"Yes you can." Twilight stepped forward. "All of your friends are here. And we've come inside your head to remind you that you can do anything you put your mind to." Twilight gave Pinkie a weak smile. "You know what I mean."

"You can do it, Pinkie!" Starlight said.

"Pink pony strong!" Prince Rutherford said. "Pink pony can handle her own pony head."

"I believe in you, Pinkie," Rarity said.

One by one, all of the survivors, despite their own miseries, despite all that they'd seen and been through, crowded around Pinkie again, encouraging and supporting her.

All of Twilight's pain disappeared. The suddenness of it startled her. Then she noticed that everypony in the room was glowing, each according to their natural color. The glows increased, blended, and seemed to flow into a single coruscant rainbow light.

Pinkie glowed the brightest, a pink so intense that it made Twilight squint. Pinkie shook her hoof at the ceiling. "You hear that, brain? I control you!"

The room trembled. "You have no power here," the Creatrix's voice boomed from all directions.

"That's where you're wrong!" Pinkie reared up and slammed the nearest wall with her front hooves. The wall shattered like delicate crystal, even though the chunks that flew from it were as thick as a pony was long. "My friends are here, and they're all the strength I need!"

The trembling increased to earthquake intensity. "Foolish mortal worm! I am the Creatrix! I have the power to unmake all of you with a thought!"

"You just try it!" Pinkie stuck out her tongue and gave a long loud raspberry. "This is my head, and my body!"

A beam of red power lanced down from overhead and struck Pinkie. The blast was bigger and more powerful than anything Twilight had ever seen, greater even than the blasts the goddess had destroyed whole cities with. Everyone tumbled back from its force.

Except Pinkie. And Maud. The two sisters stood at the center of the blast, unharmed. Twilight blinked in astonishment. _Did Pinkie just absorb that power?_

"Is that all you've got?" Pinkie shook her hoof at the air again. "I've got whoopie cushions worse than that!"

"You insolent—" The red blast came again, even stronger this time. And again, neither Maud nor Pinkie appeared to be affected by it. When it ended, Pinkie floated up, her color darker but glowing brighter, the beginnings of flames on her hooves.

Pinkie giggled. "That kinda tickled! Do it again!"

" _I will end you!_ " A third blast shot down at Pinkie. This time Twilight felt less power from it, but the change in Pinkie was more pronounced. Except for her eyes, she looked like the Creatrix.

"Everypony step back," Twilight said. "I don't know about this."

"Oh, don't worry, Twilight," Pinkie said. "I feel great!"

Maud approached Twilight. "I think this is what we want to see."

Pinkie's glow kept increasing. Twilight couldn't even look directly at her any more.

"No! _Nooo!_ " the Creatrix screamed in the darkness. The voice wasn't as loud as before.

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie yelled from somewhere within the miniature pink sun. "I'm back, everypony!" She laughed.

The pink sun exploded.

There was soft dirt and grass under Twilight's hooves. All of her bodily pains were back, especially her headache. But there was sunshine, blue sky, grass, trees in the distance, the survivors of the Creatrix's tour of destruction milling around. And the familiar, hated form of the Creatrix, floating above them all.

Twilight's despair almost brought her to the ground, but she rallied. _If I'm going to die today, I'm dying on my hooves_. "All right, Creatrix. I've done everything I could to stop your rampage. If you're going to destroy me, do it. But please spare my friends."

"You mistake me, Twilight Sparkle." The Creatrix's voice was not the same as before. It was milder, softer. Less imperious and more soothing. "I had allowed my mind to be clouded with anger over injustices done to me in the past. You and your friends here have shown me that, while this world has not become what I wanted, it is nonetheless a wonder to be cherished, not an aberration to be erased.

"My reunion with what you think of as the dark and destructive half of my power was not easy after so many eons apart. The anguish of this mortal vessel added to the difficulty of my remaking. I saw this world through the eyes of one betrayed. But when I saw all of you, standing together in the face of your imminent doom, with faith in each other, with love for each other, my eyes were truly opened.

"All of you mortals have been made to see and experience things that none of you should ever have had to. For that, I apologize. My separation was a thing done to me, but there was wisdom in its doing. I will once more divide, and return to these mortal vessels. But before I do, I shall undo all that I have wrought."

The Creatrix's red energy sphere surrounded her, then burst like a bubble, spreading a wave of pink energy in its wake. The wave washed over Twilight, and her pain and exhaustion vanished in an instant. As the wave passed over the survivors, all of their injuries healed instantly. The pink wave continued onward and left in its wake a restored world, as if the horrors of the long day had been nothing but a nightmare.

The Creatrix floated down and stood before Twilight. "There is but one aspect of your world I shall not remake, mortal. The descendants of those who betrayed me will not be returned to their former state." She held up a hoof when Twilight opened her mouth to speak. "Do not concern yourself. They live, and are hale and hearty."

Celestia and Luna appeared at Twilight's side. They were wingless and devoid of cutie marks, their manes and tails still hung limp, but Twilight didn't care. She burst into tears and leaped at them, hugging them both close.

Then she realized her impropriety, backed clear, and knelt. "I'm sorry, Princesses. I was just so glad to see you both again."

"It's quite all right, Twilight," Celestia said. "And I fear we are princesses no longer." She knelt before Twilight, and Luna followed her lead. "The Creatrix gave us the knowledge of our salvation when she restored us. You are truly worthy of what is to come for you."

"Huh?"

Celestia and Luna stood. "She has provided us with the knowledge of our path forward, to recover what we were. But far be it for me, a mere unicorn, to speak on behalf of a goddess." Celestia faced the Creatrix and knelt again.

"Please stand," the Creatrix said. "I have no need of adoration or formality." She turned to Twilight once more. "Your princesses must undertake certain tasks to fully recover themselves. They must do these things alone, with no aid or succor from any of you. But their forebears rendered their abilities unto you, mortal ponies. And I see no reason to change that."

The Creatrix rose into the air again and hovered a dozen feet above Twilight. "You, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, who have used that great power to take me from a wrong path and set me once more on a correct one, shall become the Princess of Equestria. It will be for you to perform the duties that Celestia and Luna once performed."

The red sphere reappeared, and from it a beam shot out and struck Twilight. In an instant, her legs and horn grew longer, her wings spread farther, and her mane and tail lengthened and waved gently, glowing like gossamer.

"But do not fear, Princess of Equestria. Your former position of Princess of Friendship shall not go vacant. I decree that your pupil, Starlight Glimmer, shall now hold that title. I shall not remake her as an alicorn. That time will come with a future trial.

"And with these actions, I shall sleep once more. Farewell, Princess. You have earned your new position, and I know that you shall not falter in your new duties."

The red globe of power flared and vanished. Pinkie Pie dropped to the ground, all trace of the divine power gone. She stood, shook her head, and looked around. "I had the very worstest nightmare ever!" She stared at Twilight. "You look different today. Did you do something new with your mane?"

Twilight stumbled as she walked, unused to her new form. "It's a long story, Pinkie. But it's over now." Her voice was deeper than before.

Twilight looked around. Everyone around her other than Pinkie, pony or not, even Celestia and Luna, was kneeling. "Everypony, please get up. I may look different, but I'm still your friend Twilight."

"No, you are not." Celestia remained kneeling, her eyes averted. "You are something more than I was even when Nightmare Moon was banished and I ruled alone. I stepped into my sister's duties out of need, but you have more power than I ever wielded. You are now truly the leader of all these lands." Celestia stood and smiled. "And I couldn't imagine a more worthy one."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Pinkie Pie looked around at the awestruck survivors, now being joined by others from Ponyville, returned from the dead and fully healed, who wandered closer to the scene of Twilight's ascension. "Then all that wasn't a bad dream? I really did all those horrible, awful things?"

"It wasn't you, Pinkie," Twilight said. "It was the Creatrix, who inhabited your body. But she fixed everything. And somehow, I can feel it. All of it, across all of Equestria. Everything is just the way it was before."

Pinkie sat. "Wow, I owe a lot of ponies a lot of apology cakes."

Celestia and Luna walked away. Twilight hurried after them on still-shaky legs. "Excuse me, Prin—sorry, force of habit. Where are you two going?"

Luna looked back. "We have to get started recovering our alicorn magic. Don't worry, Princess. We'll see you soon."

Before she left for Canterlot, Twilight went back to her Castle of Friendship. Starlight, Spike, and the rest of her closest friends followed her. "I guess this is all yours now, Starlight."

Starlight looked around with wide eyes. "I don't know if I'm ready for this."

"You are. And I'll leave everything here for you to make sure you have plenty of help."

"What about all of us?" Applejack asked. "Uh, Your Majesty, I mean."

"Starlight has all of the magic and all of the knowledge she needs," Twilight answered. "And please don't call me that. 'Twilight' is just fine." She turned to Spike. "I guess this is goodbye."

"What?" Spike plopped onto his butt in his surprise.

"I'll need you to remain here and send me everypony's friendship lessons. Can you do that for me?"

Spike wiped away a tear and stood. "I'd be honored."

"That goes for all of you." Twilight looked from Applejack to Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and, finally, Pinkie Pie. "You are all the Elements of Harmony. Don't worry, the Creatrix restored them too. But now it looks like Starlight will sit in my place as the Element of Magic." Twilight led them to the throne room.

Sure enough, her symbol on the head throne had been replaced. It was now the purple and white star with twin blue streams that Twilight knew so well as Starlight's cutie mark. And the map was still visible, showing once more the undamaged Equestria of which she was now the sole steward.


End file.
